Chrisjen Avasarala (TV)
Charanpal † Unnamed father †|occupation = Assistant Under Secretary (Executive Administration) Office of Secretary-General United Nations |affiliation = United Nations Government Earth and its people |portrayed by = Shohreh Aghdashloo |seasons = One, Two |first appearance = |last appearance = }} Chrisjen Avasarala is the Assistant Under Secretary of Executive Administration, Office of Secretary-General of the United Nations. She is the one of the individuals who have reached the highest position in the UN government that obtainable without being elected as so. Avasarala is seen as one of the most influential people in the whole system, wielding power just below that of the Secretary-General and his immediate deputy, the Undersecretary of Executive Administration. In truth, however, through careful manipulation, she is the true ruler of the United Nations. Biography Background A master politician and maneuverer, she achieved one of the highest ranks in UN government without ever standing for election. She manipulates those in the highest seats of power through careful cultivation of relationships with the spouses, friends, and staff nearest to them. Chrisjen belongs to a longstanding political dynasty on Earth, dating back to the early days of planetary exploration and colonization. Martian separatists assassinated her father during a period of social unrest. Her son, a Marine, died in the line of duty while defending Earth from Belter revolutionaries. Throughout the series |-|Season One = In , Chrisjen is seen torturing a suspected Outer Planets Alliance operative for intelligence on the OPA’s smuggling of revolutionary stealth technology, as a result of political unrest growing in the Belt, and thus a threat to the UN’s holdings there. In , after interrogating (torturing) the Belter smuggler, Avasarala comes to the conclusion that the Mars is feeding the OPA stealth technology. This would indicate that the MCR is trying to arm the OPA to fight for Belter independence, thus destabilizing the region and compromising Earth’s control of the Asteroid Belt and the resources from it, which Earth depends on. In , in order to find out if Mars’ stealth ships were used to destroy the , Avasarala lies to her friend, a Martian official, that Earth has proof Mars is guilty. By monitoring her friend to see if the ships are missing, it indicates to her that Mars is innocent. She realizes whoever blew up the Canterbury intends on starting an interplanetary war by making everyone think the Martian government is responsible of the attack. In , Avasarala starts to suspect that traitor, , may be the person that blew up the Canterbury as a power play by the Outer Planets Alliance. She blackmails a colleague into identifying an operative to spy on Fred on Tycho. It is then revealed that the OPA is responsible for her son's premature death. In , with the knowledge from her spy that and crew have left Tycho on a fighter ship, Avasarala goes to Holden’s mother to learn what she can about him. She surmises that Holden is a kindhearted child caught up in a bad situation, and not allied with whomever is trying to start a war. Her boss, Undersecretary , reveals he had sent a Black Ops team to kill Holden. In , Avasarala warns Errinwright that the Black Ops team he had sent to retrieve Holden must leave Holden alive, or he will be a martyr that will give fuel to an Outer Planets Alliance uprising, but Errinwright has plans of his own. Avasarala receives bad news: her friend DeGraaf, whom she betrayed in order to test Mars’ involvement with stealth ships, has committed suicide. In , Avasarala visits the home of her recently deceased friend, DeGraaf, the Martian ambassador she tricked in . She surreptitiously searches his files and discovers that he was researching the whereabouts of missing stealth gunships, built on Earth, with drives like those that destroyed the Canterbury and the Donnager. Soon thereafter, Fred Johnson publicly broadcasts his evidence that the Donnager was destroyed by stealth ships built on Earth. DeGraaf’s death may not have been a suicide, and his blood may not be on her hands, after all. Undersecretary Errinwright tells Avasarala that said ships were privately commissioned on Earth, and smuggled to Fred. Chrisjen realizes Errinwright is lying and is somehow involved in the Canterbury’s destruction and the attempts to start a war. |-|Season Two = In , with the knowledge that undersecretary Errinwright and industrialist are somehow involved with the efforts to start a system-wide war, Chrisjen Avasarala plays the role of the dutiful Earth politician to gather intelligence on the matter. When a dilapidated science center on the Saturnian moon Phoebe goes dark, Mars and Earth blame each other and prepare for war. In , after the UN destroys the Martian moon of Deimos as retaliation against Mars’ perceived role in the destruction of Phoebe station, Avasarala fears war is imminent, and sends a secret message to Fred Johnson, believing he could help uncover the conspiracy behind the acts of aggression. In , Avasarala receives a message back from Fred Johnson with coordinates to a stealth ship with casualties on board. The ship can can be traced back to a company owned by Jules-Pierre Mao, whom Avasarala knows to be involved in the larger conspiracy to cause a Earth/Mars war. It can also link Mao to the stealth ships used to start the conflict between Earth and Mars. She leaks the information, but Mao plays dumb when confronted. In , the news that Eros is traveling for a collision course with Earth ignites a frenzy of panic among the populace. Projections for loss of life range from disastrous to catastrophic. With no way to track the massive asteroid hurtling towards Earth, Avasarala urges the UN Security Council to hand off control of a horde of nuclear missiles to Fred Johnson who, through the crew of the Rocinante, has eyes on the asteroid. In , Avasarala consults with an old friend and scientist, Dr. Iturbi. He is convinced that the Eros incident was the result of extraterrestrial phenomena. Iturbi convinces Avasarala to grant him access to Venus, where Eros crashed, and that in return he will be her unfiltered eyes and ears on the ground. Avasarala confronts Errinwright about his involvement with Jules-Pierre Mao. Having pieced together that Mao is connected to the incident on Eros, Avasarala gives Errinwright a message to deliver to Jules: Give her all the information he has on Eros, or she will destroy his family and empire. In , as the conflict on Ganymede resulted in over 3,000 dead and more injured and while the UN is taking the news as a war cry from Mars, Avasarala sees this as an opportunity to call a ceasefire and she petitions the Prime Minister to call a peace summit on Earth. Not only will this deescalate the growing conflict, but it will give Mars an easy out to a war they know they cannot win. In , Avasarala and Errinwright discuss the Arboghast’s mission on Venus. Afterwards, Avasarala enters into the peace summit with Mars. The talks get off to a rocky start but settle quickly when Bobbie gives her testimony about what happened on Ganymede. Her team plays the scapegoat and, thus, avoids war, but Avasarala senses that something else is going on and requests more time with . Bobbie almost lets it slip that a “something” with no vacuum suit attacked them, but quickly gets back on script. In , Avasarala's suspicions about Errinwright's role in the larger protomolecule conspiracy are confirmed. She finally confronts him about the staged suicide of her old friend Franklin DeGraaf. Hopeful that Errinwright can yet redeem himself, she decides not to go public with his role in the conspiracy just yet. Avasarala is still not convinced of Bobbie’s testimony and her claim that her unit was responsible for incident on Ganymede. The MCR appears to be using the peace talks as a smokescreen for some ulterior purposes. Avasarala knows she needs to get more information from Bobbie. She finds Bobbie getting her first look at the ocean, and tries to derive the truth from her but Bobbie is still reeling from her experience at the UN. Personality Chrisjen belongs to a longstanding political dynasty on Earth, dating back to the early days of planetary exploration and colonization. Martian separatists assassinated her father during a period of social unrest. Her son, a Marine, died in the line of duty while defending Earth from Belter revolutionaries. Avasarala will do anything it takes, and pay any price, to defend Earth, which she sees as the cradle of humanity. Appearances Season 1 Season 2 Notes * Avasarala doesn't appear in the books until Caliban's War, but was brought into the first season to add the Earth's political counterpoint earlier in the story. Trivia Media Images File:TheExpanse-Avasarala.jpg File:209.jpeg File:TheExpanse-Avasarala-small-profile-pic.jpg External links Category:Characters (TV) Category:Female Characters (TV)